StringerBell wrote:

Hi,

The ammonia has been pretty steady at .25 for about 11 days now. Is
this fairly normal? Should I still play the beer-drinking waiting game?
(dont mind it so much
Or is there some action to take?
I have only done the 1 water change.
Lots of pods,snails and little feather dusters have emerged. Also a
lot of plants springing up.



My first suggestion to you is to test out your test kit to make sure it
is reading correctly. I have seen lots of "bad" test kits that would
read low levels even if non are present. The ammonia staying level for
11 days does seem a little strange to me, it should be going down. With
the other life doing good in the tank, it makes me think that you really
do not have an ammonia problem (not that .25 is a problem.) My real
question is what has happened to your nitrite and Nitrate levels? Has
your nitrite level gone up? If so you have the ammonia eating bacteria
and so your ammonia level should have peaked some time after you started
seeing nitrite and then started dropping down. If your nitrate level is
climbing you not only have the ammonia eating bacteria but the nitrite
eating bacteria also, so your cycle should be getting very close to
being done.

A question for you are you adding anything to the tank right now? Some
additives can cause false ammonia readings.

Kim
www.jensalt.com